Etowah was originally called “Etowah Hunt Club.”
But the only thing you’re going to hunt there is maybe a second helping of huckleberry compote.
The “Hunt Club” part of the name was a joke, says owner Josh Conley. Etowah actually features dinners four times a year hosted by Conley and Cole Jeanes, chef/owner of Kinfolk Memphis. The seasonal dinners feature top chefs from around the country.
“Etowah” is a Muscogee (Creek) Nation Native-American word that translates to “city” or “place,” Conley says.
Jordan Rainbolt, chef/owner of Native Root in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, will be the featured chef May 27th at The Ravine.
Conley and Jeanes held a couple of Etowah dinners in Arkansas, where Conley and his wife bought a home. But, he says, “The concept makes more sense in Memphis. Memphis is such a great city for food concepts. I’ve always loved Memphis and Memphians because they get really excited about cool stuff. And it’s such a supportive town.”
Conley, who has worked in and out of the food and beverage industry, says, “This is a passion project.”
The idea began several years ago when he and a friend planned to open a bar. “We wanted a place that was really devoted to seasonally-based cocktails.”
Then, he says, “We got really excited about this idea of drinking and eating with the seasons.”
That brick-and-mortar concept never got off the ground, but later, Conley and Jeanes talked “over a glass of wine one night. I started telling him about this thing I wanted to do.”
One of their first dinners was held in a soybean field. Others were held in a parking garage and an artist’s studio.
They ask the featured chef one question: “What does this season — the one we’re doing the dinner in — taste like to you?”
The dinners are “all centered around food memories.” So, for May, he asks, “What does May taste like? What does it smell like? What texture?”
The chef is asked to feature something “special to the particular place and time and season.”
The number of diners “depends on the space” and what the chef’s concept is. The one in May will seat “80 to 100 people,” Conley says. “They usually sell out pretty quickly.”
Jeanes doesn’t cook at the events. “I’m support for the kitchen and food side of this,” he says. “When they come in, I provide them with a kitchen and make sure they get everything taken care of.”
May is the perfect time for Rainbolt to be the featured Etowah chef, she says. It’s “probably my favorite month.”
It’s “the end of spring, not quite summer yet.”
It’s also perfect because of “the produce that’s available,” she says. Spring “sets the tone for the rest of the year. And it’s just this momentum of produce and flowers starting to peak.”
Her restaurant “focuses on regionality and locality but also highlights Indigenous foods that are from this part of the country and world. So, a lot of my menu highlights Appalachian with Indigenous ties or how they overlap.”
Her five-course Etowah menu will include a seared and roasted venison loin with a whiskey-washed tallow pan sauce that will be served with dandelion greens. Dessert will be a huckleberry compote with native blue corn crust.
Response for the Etowah dinners has been great, Jeanes says. “It’s just a great overall experience. It’s tailored to make people feel good. We’re being very hospitable. The food is great.”
This is a one-time-only dinner, Conley says. “It’s experiencing a chef in a different way than you normally would, even if you went to their restaurant.
“These menus are love letters. And this letter happens to be addressed to a season.”
Go to etowahdinnerseries.com to sign up for the upcoming Etowah dinner.